Bucks put up 85 points in the first half.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
About the only big negative tonight is that Giannis is 1 for 6 from the FT line.
@MichiganPacker posted:About the only big negative tonight is that Giannis is 1 for 6 from the FT line.
Connaughton just tweaked his knee going for the rebound on the last Gianis miss.
Bucks still up 23 in the third.
Pacers have worked the lead down to 20 from 34 at one point. Mainly by hitting 8 of their first 9 shots of the third quarter.
Bucks have allowed 37 points in the first 9 minutes of the third quarter.
All the way down to a 13 point lead from 33. Middleton was great in the first half, and has been just awful here in the 3rd quarter. Forced shots, bad turnovers.
23-9 Pacers run.
Rhetorically speaking. You explained pretty clearly WTF happened, Michigan Packer.
15 point lead going to the 4th. Connaughton comes back in to hit a 3 to restore some order.
Giannis going 1 for 6 from the line and some really poor shot selection let the Pacers keep close enough for the Bucks to have to play the 4th well to get a win.
Giannis is obviously a HOFer. But his jumper has devolved so badly this year that he looks like a middle schooler learning to shoot for the first time.
Right. I like Carter’s aggressiveness, but he’s gotta be careful he doesn’t foul out
Bucks only up 13. Still safe, but Giannis is now 1 for 7 from the line and they are baiting him to take 3s. He's taken 2 of them in the 4th quarter with no one within 15 feet of him. Missed them both
Giannis now 1 for 8 from the line. He's not been close on many of them.
@MichiganPacker posted:Giannis now 1 for 8 from the line. He's not been close on many of them.
Now a 10-second call before finally making one
2 for 10.
A lot of good defense and rebounds and passing, but need more baskets. Where’s Jrue? He’s been passing it off and taking low percentage shots
Back down to an 11 point lead with 4:22 left. Giannis was resting, but they might go Hack-a-Giannis here when he comes back.
Giannis might be having one of the worst shooting 34 point games you'll ever see. 2 for 10 from the line and some herky-jerky jump shots.
Down to 8 with a terrible Holiday turnover. And now we go to hack-a-Giannis
The way they usually play defense, 130 should be plenty, but the pacers have not been missing many shots
Giannis now 4 for 14 from the line and they are sending him back to the line again.
Giannis hits 5 for 7 from three, but then Holiday with a really dumb step-back 3 early in the shot clock. Lead down to 7 with 2 minutes left.
Apparently defensemen can’t hold their ground in this game.
Jrue Holiday made plays when he needed to. Pacers are feisty. W is what’s important
I know we are spoiled, but that seemed like a terrible Giannis game. At one point he was 2 for 11 from the line, he missed 4 threes in the 4th without a make, and his jump shot looked jerky-jerky. I don't think he made a shot outside of 3 feet in the second half.
But he ends up at 41-12-6 in 33 minutes and shot 55% from the field.
He started 2 for 11 from the line, but hit 5 of his last 7 when they started fouling on purpose.
@Brewcrew posted:Jrue Holiday made plays when he needed to. Pacers are feisty. W is what’s important
Holiday had some bad turnovers in the second half, but the Paces never got closer than 7 points in the second half. It was never even a 2 possession game, but it seemed closer than that.
Middleton is still on a minutes restriction. It's different holding a lead when he's in there and healthy
I’m not sure we will see the real Bucks version of this team until the playoffs, so it’s hard to judge a game like this. But given injuries and other factors that’s been the season so far.
All I know is this - they are 31-17 despite whatever concerns may exist, and we still have Giannis. Think if you are a Suns or Bulls or Raptors or Lakers or Hawks fan. Those teams clearly had higher expectations or plenty of talent but they are all hovering around or under .500. The reality is the Bucks will likely win 55+ games and end up a top 4 seed and should do some damage.
@Tschmack posted:I’m not sure we will see the real Bucks version of this team until the playoffs, so it’s hard to judge a game like this. But given injuries and other factors that’s been the season so far.
All I know is this - they are 31-17 despite whatever concerns may exist, and we still have Giannis. Think if you are a Suns or Bulls or Raptors or Lakers or Hawks fan. Those teams clearly had higher expectations or plenty of talent but they are all hovering around or under .500. The reality is the Bucks will likely win 55+ games and end up a top 4 seed and should do some damage.
The offense has been really, really, really good when Giannis, Holiday, and Middleton are all healthy.
If you put those three out there with Ingles and Allen (or Portis/Lopez), it's as good as the offense has been in Bud's time there.
The decisions at the deadline come down to the playoff matchups. There are a lot of good teams in the East this year, and many of them could beat the Bucks in a series if the right guys got hot (Knicks or Pacers come to mind). However, I think if the Bucks lose in the Eastern conference playoffs it will be to one of the other top 6 teams.
I look at the East in this order in terms of playoff chances (regardless of what the final seedings are).
1. Celtics
2. Bucks
3. Nets
4. Sixers
5. Cavs
6. Heat
The matchups are key. All of these teams have a guy that can at least bother Giannis. That's key to beating the Bucks in a series (the Knicks, Bulls, and Pacers don't have anyone).
To match up against the Heat, you have to contain their smaller wings at the 3 point line. Guys like Strus, Vincent, and Herro. Jevon Carter's minutes go up. They don't really need to add anyone to beat the Heat.
The Sixers are a different animal than the rest because you need at least one more big body to soak up some Embiid minutes. Lopez plays him well, and Giannis will to (but that would tire Giannis out a lot). Portis is not quite big enough. Ibaka would be the guy for 10-12 minutes, but he wants out. You also need extra big guys for minutes against the Cavs.
Then you get to the Nets and Celtics. The Bucks are almost certainly going to have to beat the Celtics at some point to advance (and maybe both). They present similar problems. The Celtics are all about Tatum and Brown. The Nets are all about Durant and Irving. Jevon Carter needs to play some minutes on Irving, but to at least make Durant work, you need minutes from Wes Matthews. Is that enough to give Holiday and Middleton some rest on defense? I think the Bucks can beat the Nets without making a move, but a guy in the Tucker mold would help (meaning a trade for Crowder).
The Celtics are the tougher question. They just run picks until they isolate Tatum or Brown on the opponent's weakest defender. Jevon Carter is too short to hold up (which is why Bud played George Hill so much). If Ingles could hold up, he'd be ideal at his size (and against Durant as well).
The Bucks trade deadline moves will really come down to whether they think Ingles can play against the Nets and Celtics.
I know everyone (including me) has wanted them to trade Allen, but he's really their only lights-out 3 point shooter other than a healthy Middleton.
I think they end up trading Nwora and some other salary filler (George Hill and Ibaka) and some 2nd round picks for Crowder.
To me, clearly the Celtics present the biggest threat to Milwaukee. They have quality starters and good frontcourt depth to give Giannis problems defensively. Adding Brogdon helps their offense in the backcourt immensely as you can deploy Smart more as a defensive guy and not have to rely on him jacking up a bunch of ill advised shots.
Still, if the Bucks Big 3 is healthy - especially Middleton- then it forces guys like Tatum and Brown to have to defend the perimeter and not just score. It also helps Holiday focus more on D instead of having to worry about getting 25 a game.
Ingles is an interesting matchup for Boston because he will force Boston to leave the paint and honor him either shooting or passing.
Brooklyn is probably next on the list because if KD and Irving are on top of their game they can beat anyone. The good news is a guy like Carter is the ideal person to slow Irving down and Milwaukee has multiple defenders they can throw at Durant. I also don’t think the Nets have anyone that can really slow down Giannis (unlike Boston).
Cleveland could be a darkhorse team because they have a decent scoring backcourt and they have some bigs that can harass Giannis. Still, they are a young team and usually in 7 game series the veteran teams tend to have an upper hand especially if they have home court.
You’ll see I didn’t mention Philly be because honestly I don’t trust Embiid staying healthy and that team doesn’t have the discipline or moxie or composure to get over the hump. Until they prove it, I can’t consider them a real threat.
The Bucks scoring 141 with that defense should never lose. They didn't. Was it pretty?? At times... nope.
Last I checked we don't have a "pretty" column in the NBA standings.
31-17.....NEXXXXTTTT!!!!
Don’t disagree at all Boris. My only point was they have a pretty decent record despite all the injuries and some inconsistent play. If you look around the league it’s been a weird season. Hell, Boston has lost some games to bad teams and right now they are the best team in the league.
I hope the league does take a long hard look at how they schedule the season going forward. If it were me, I’d start the season in mid-late December and finish the playoffs in August timeframe right before football cranks up.
@Tschmack posted:Don’t disagree at all Boris. My only point was they have a pretty decent record despite all the injuries and some inconsistent play. If you look around the league it’s been a weird season. Hell, Boston has lost some games to bad teams and right now they are the best team in the league.
I hope the league does take a long hard look at how they schedule the season going forward. If it were me, I’d start the season in mid-late December and finish the playoffs in August timeframe right before football cranks up.
Every team has integrated more preventative medicine assessments into their investments. The likelihood of injuries on the second of a back-to-back or the third game in 4 nights is m higher than at other times.
The Bucks have a quarter of a billion dollars invested in Giannis. And that pales in comparison to what he is worth to the franchise and the city of Milwaukee. Sure, Middleton and Holiday are critical and they are careful with them as well, but if Giannis goes down for the year or has a career-altering injury, it's not over-the-top to say it's a billion-dollar affect on the Bucks and Milwaukee. it's the same for Jokic in Denver or Doncic in Dallas. The Bucks without Giannis don't sell jerseys, they aren't on national TV, nobody talks about them. With him, they are a worldwide brand. That means sitting him out of regular-season games to be overly cautious. A 6th seed and a healthy Giannis is better than a 1 seed and a dinged-up one.
As you say, the problem is the length of the schedule. Everyone agrees it's too long, but the owners aren't going to volunteer to make less money and the players aren't going to volunteer to take 20% paycuts to cut the schedule to something like 65-70 games. A possible solution would be the keep the start where it is and extend it 6-8 weeks into August. No more back-to-backs.